Special prosecutor named for shooting case

Fauquier County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Fisher has been appointed as special prosecutor for the ongoing Virginia State Police investigation into a Culpeper Police officer’s shooting of a 54-year-old woman Thursday.

Fisher will take the place of Culpeper County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close.

“I asked for the special prosecutor so that there would not be any appearance of impropriety in terms of me reviewing any reports that came regarding the shooting of Mrs. Cook,” said Close. “Obviously, my office works very closely with the town police and I think, quite rightly, anyone would have questions about me making decisions regarding the propriety or impropriety of any actions that they took.”

Once the VSP investigation concludes, they will turn the findings over to the special prosecutor, according to Corinne Geller, public relations director for the Virginia State Police.

Fisher could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Police have said that an unnamed Town of Culpeper police officer was investigating a suspicious woman, Patricia Cook, 54, of Culpeper, sitting in a school parking lot on North East Street. While attempting to retrieve her identification, “the woman suddenly closed her driver’s side window trapping the officer’s arm and started driving away dragging the officer alongside,” reads the VSP release. It continues that “the officer repeatedly commanded the woman stop the moving vehicle. She refused and shots were fired. The Jeep Wrangler then wrecked in the 200 block of North East Street.”

In a Tuesday interview, eyewitness Kris Buchele, who witnessed the incident from a nearby apartment, recalled the incident.

“I am 100 percent sure that he did not have his arm in that window and he was not being drug by that vehicle,” said Buchele. He said the Jeep was slowly moving toward the parking lot exit and the officer was sidestepping alongside during the incident.

“He had his left hand on the door handle, had his right hand on the gun and I could actually hear the tapping of the gun on the glass,” said Buchele.

“When the window was about half way up, I heard him say ‘stop or I’ll shoot’ and she got the window at about three-quarters, maybe all the way up, and he shot. I couldn’t believe it, I was in shock,” he said. The officer “couldn’t have been more than a foot from her head.”

Buchele said after the first shot, Cook took a left out of the parking lot and the officer “fired five more times at the back of the Jeep.

“I was in total shock that he shot her. I didn’t see where he had any reason to shoot her,” said Buchele. “It didn’t look like he was stuck in any way. It looked like he was trying to open the door, he had his weapon out and he was sidestepping with the vehicle…any normal person could have walked alongside the vehicle.”

Throughout the investigation, town police have deferred questions to VSP. In a written statement released Tuesday evening, chief Chris Jenkins broke the department’s silence. 

“I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the recent loss of one of our local residents, Mrs. Patricia Cook,” said Jenkins. “The mayor has asked us to be patient and allow the Virginia State Police to conduct its investigation. At this time, the town police department can only await the results of the Virginia State Police investigation, and we ask that citizens do the same.”

The town council also acknowledged the shooting at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.

“While we understand the frustrations of the community caused by the lack of information publicly available at this time, we ask that you please be patient and allow the Virginia State Police to conduct its investigation.  This process could take several weeks or more, but we are encouraged by the significant amount of personnel and resources being assigned to this investigation,” said Culpeper mayor Chip Coleman.

“From the onset, the Virginia State Police’s Shooting Investigation Team was assigned to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation. Additional forensic agents and supervisors are also assigned to the investigation to assist the shooting team, and they will remain involved until such time as the investigation is complete,” said Coleman. “We continue to keep those involved in the incident in our thoughts and prayers, and we ask those in the community to do the same.”